Cities hold the key to economic success, says ex-Obama adviser

BRUCE Katz, a former adviser to President Obama, told an audience in Manchester that the global economy of the 21st century will be dominated by trading relationships between influential cities.

Speaking at the town hall on Friday, Mr Katz said US cities were leading the way in the country’s economic recovery at a time when the federal government was, “like Elvis, it’s essentially left the building”.

More powers are being delegated to the UK regions by central government in the form of its City Deals, and Manchester has been at the vanguard of the devolution debate, pulling together with borough councils to form a combined authority that will give it more clout.

This model is now being copied elsewhere and Mr Katz spoke of reinvigorated regional cities finding a new purpose and growing economically by trading with networks of cities operating in similar sectors.

He gave the example of Portland on the US west coast that was in the doldrums but found a new role as a centre for sustainable technologies which it sells to fast-growing cities in Asia. Its strapline is “we build green cities”.

“US cities are starting to follow the advice of that great American philosopher Dolly Parton who said, ‘find out who you are and do it on purpose’,” quipped Mr Katz who also stressed the importance of manufacturing.

“If you give up production you will see your nation wither away. Manufacturing is really, really, really important.”

But during a panel discussion Mike Emmerich, the chief executive of the New Economy think tank, said there was little data on trading relationships between cities.

“We don’t know who we [Manchester] we trade with. We can’t know from the official data who we buy and sell from. All we know is what our regional trade figures are. We need to really focus on that as part of out internationalisation strategy.”

Mr Katz was promoting his new book The Metropolitan Revolution.